For many years, two-dimensional (2D) paper drawings were used for defining master product definitions. Communication among members of an Integrated Product Team and among teams was a challenge, especially for larger programs, because of the use of paper. For example, a design group would create 2D drawings for defining engineering assemblies. A manufacturing group used the 2D engineering drawings to understand intent of the design group, develop manufacturing assemblies and build plans, and communicate intent to a tooling group. The tooling group would create tools and tool instructions in order to comply with the build plan. In many cases, multiple variations of a tool were developed in order to comply with different product variations included in a build plan.
Tool operators receive the build plan from the manufacturing group and tooling information from the tooling group. Because the build plan was developed before tools were created or specified, the tool operators didn't know the specific tool version that was required by just reviewing the build plan. As a result, the tool operators spent time reviewing information provided by the tooling group in order to determine correct tool configuration for the product option and line number.
It would be desirable to provide tool operators with information regarding correct tool configuration for product option and line number. However, there exists an unmet need for clearly instructing tool operators.